Science —

Google wants in on the smart grid of the future

Given its stated goal of organizing all the world's information, Google …

To get a smart grid to work, utilities have to have access to data on consumers' power use so that they can make intelligent choices about limiting demand during periods of peak use. But many of the biggest benefits of this data will only occur if it's retained and accessible. Users can track their daily power use, identify significant drains, and intelligently go about implementing efficiency measures. That data has apparently become tempting for a company that's made its business on storing and parsing electronic data: Google wants a piece of the smart grid action.

At the moment, utilities are typically acting as the gatekeepers of the data returned from any smart grid equipment installed in the field. But Google's announcement of its interest in the smart grid contains a graph that shows how the data can be used to help consumers identify the source of major power drains, such as turning on a clothes dryer. The announcement was also accompanied by a series of testimonials from Google employees, describing how being able to track and understand their energy use enabled them to rapidly cut down on their consumption. The search giant also cites past studies that indicate this sort of monitoring enables consumers to save anywhere from 5 to 15 percent on their electricity use, depending in part on the sophistication of the power monitoring equipment.

Consumers who are interested in doing this sort of saving, however, will probably be disappointed that there's no Google Grid service to plug their street address into. At this point, if you're not a utility, device manufacturer, or government, all Google will let you do is sign up for a mailing list. The service hasn't even entered perpetual beta status.

So, if it's not actually accessible outside of a closed beta, why the big announcement? Basically, it appears that Google realizes that the smart grid is about to get a big boost from the government stimulus, and wants to make sure it has access to the inevitable mountain of data that results. In a comment it submitted to the California Public Utility Commission, the search giant clearly states that it views the effort as part of its goal "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful."

Those comments actually provide a very informative window into why Google probably feels the need to be proactive about getting in on the action now if it ever wants to at all. A substantial portion of the document focuses on the accessibility and format of the data retrieved from the smart grid. Neither of these are simple issues.

Basically, it appears that Google realizes that the smart grid is about to get a big boost from the government stimulus, and wants to make sure it has access to the inevitable mountain of data that results.

There are clearly different visions of what the smart grid should look like at the consumer end, in terms of what devices are enabled and how much they report back to the utilities. It'll also be years, as consumers gradually replace the current generations of appliances, before there's anything close to a complete tally of how different items contribute to the total electricity usage. Meanwhile, the utilities are under no obligation to either store or expose the data they retrieve in a standardized format.

The other issue is that things like power use have traditionally been held to a high standard of privacy—the matter is kept between a customer and their utility. Google wants to ensure that consumers have a uniform and easy way of opting to let others have access to that information, which will be necessary for it to ever do anything significant with its smart grid tools.

So, to a large extent, the announcement suggests that Google is staking out a position that will simply ensure that it can have access to the smart grid data once it becomes available. They're hardly alone in that; Google is entering a field teeming with smaller companies that are already working with utilities. Tendril, for example, already offers both desktop software and a Web portal that integrate usage history, utility rates and power source information, and control of any compatible devices on a user's home network. The sparse information about its program provided so far suggests that Google's system will be far less sophisticated.

Still, it's possible that these companies may welcome Google's entry to the field. They clearly can provide a more specialized solution than a company devoted to handling all the world's data and, so far, the search giant is saying all the same things those companies have: we need to get smarter about our power use if we're ever going to improve our conservation and integrate renewable power on the grid. Having their message validated by a company with Google's reach might provide everyone in the field with some significant benefits.